Jack Wilshere: FA Cup glory can spark a new era for Arsenal

Jack Wilshere is confident Arsenal will repeat the success of Arsene Wenger’s early years if they can win the FA Cup this season.

The Gunners, who have not won a trophy since they took the Cup in 2005, must beat Swansea at Emirates Stadium in next week’s replay to set up a fourth-round tie at Brighton.

Wenger’s sixth-placed side are 18 points adrift of leaders Manchester United in the Premier League and face Bayern Munich, last season’s finalists, in the last 16 of the Champions League. That means the FA Cup is vital and although Wenger claimed that qualifying for Europe’s top competition is worth more than winning a domestic cup, Wilshere admits he is desperate for medals.

“We all want a trophy,” said the England midfielder. “When you finish your career, you look back and see how many trophies you won, so we all want them and we know how much the fans do. We know how much this Cup means and we want to get to Wembley, win and pick up the trophy.

“We’re all hungry for it and maybe if we get a trophy this year, it can open the way for a few more. We’ve got a good crop of young players alongside some more experienced ones, like Mikel Arteta. So if we get a trophy this year or in the next couple of years we can really build something, a strong team who can stay strong for the next few years.

“It’s easy to sit here and say that when we get the first trophy, more will follow, but we know how tough the FA Cup is this year.

“We’re still in it, though, and we’re still in the Champions League, so we’re in a good position and we just need to make sure we get the results now.”

Arsenal looked to have secured their spot in the next round after staging a fine fightback at Swansea. A goal down thanks to Michu, who scored within a minute of coming on as a substitute, Arsenal equalised through their own sub Lukas Podolski and seven minutes from full-time, they took the lead with a brilliant volley from Kieran Gibbs after a one-two with Olivier Giroud.

But yet again, poor marking at a set-piece let Wenger’s men down and Danny Graham brought the score level when Arsenal failed to deal efficiently with a corner in the 87th minute.

Arsenal must now brace themselves for a run of three matches in a week that could define their season. Manchester City and Chelsea are the next opponents in the Premier League, either side of the replay against Swansea on January 16.

“I’m not sure whether it’s make or break but we need results,” Wilshere admitted. “We’re not where we want to be in the League. We want to be higher and we have a game in hand on most of our rivals, so we have to make it count.

“It’s no good having them unless we can win them. We know City are a good team but we’re at home so we have to take the game to them, and then in the replay against Swansea we have to do the same thing.

“There are tough games coming up and we know that this time of year in England is so important, so we have to recover well and go again.”

Arteta believes Arsenal were unlucky not to have settled the tie yesterday. The midfielder said: “I think we were the better team. We dominated possession better than them and created more chances. We deserved to win the game and that’s why we’re disappointed.

“We’re on a good run. We’re disappointed with the draws in the last two games as we could have won both of them.”